Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Coleman Lantern Dual vs White Gas

I have my adapter and used it very recently.

I used it as a throw weight to thread a pull rope into a limbing job on a tree 2 weeks ago.

Battery lanterns are a lot easier.

If you get a dual fuel lamp, you will have to get on of those $100.00 trout fishing hats. I would love one of those lamps.

https://www.coleman.com/all-lighting/gas-lanterns/kerosene-lantern/col_3000004258_pr/COL_3000004258

I used regular unleaded in different camp stoves for 40 years. Used it in lanterns also. Recently switched to propane for both the stove and lantern but the cylinders are expensive. The adaptors to run your stove or fill the bottles from a 20# tank are the only way to go. Going to switch to a dual fuel generator also. Love the propane.

Base camp use is 20# propane with service tree and hoses.
Runs big lantern and stove. Easy.
White gas? Never again.

KEROSENE. If you want a cheaper liquid fuel look at kerosene Coleman lanterns. You can still buy them new, work almost the same as white gas lanterns except for a pre-heat step, give as much light, and fuel is cheap. We used to use them at our hunting camp years ago before running gas lines and putting in propane light fixtures running off 100lb tanks. The kerosene lanterns gave better light than the propane - basically needed 4 or 5 propane fixtures to replace 2 kerosene lanterns. Just be real careful to fill and light them outside! Might need to let them air out a little before bringing them inside if you get sloppy and spill some kerosene when refilling.

Electric lanterns are much better these days with LED tech. But you gotta have a way to recharge or buy batteries. I use them when I don't want heat with the light, or just need a light for a few minutes, but I don't have any that will put out as much light as a gas lantern.

To me, white gas lanterns are still the standard, but not the most convenient. Have a couple but don't use them much anymore.

Propane lanterns are easy to use, but the disposable gas bottles are a pain. Refilling from a bulk tank is the way to go if you use them a lot. Have a couple of those too, including a setup to connect directly to a 16 or 20 lb gas bottle. Think its called a distribution tree, several sources make them including Coleman, Stansport, Texsport, others. If I needed to use a gas lantern a lot, I think a 20 lb tank with a distribution tee and propane lantern screwed on the top would be the way to go - if its a situation where you can bring in the tanks and the lantern doesn't have to be hung up high.

I have 7 Coleman lanterns from the 50s up to the Dual Fuel.

White gas, Coleman fuel, generic lantern fuel works best.
Premium gasoline can be used, in a pinch, but will gum, varnish, soot up your lantern.

DO NOT use gasohol. The seals are not made for alcohol.

I have 7 Coleman lanterns from the 50s up to the Dual Fuel.

White gas, Coleman fuel, generic lantern fuel works best.
Premium gasoline can be used, in a pinch, but will gum, varnish, soot up your lantern.

DO NOT use gasohol. The seals are not made for alcohol.

The propane are clean and convenient.

The one I now use is LED. Much safer, cleaner and easier to light.

We have a dual fuel lantern.

Had it a few years.

Premium no lead is all we burn. I just add fuel to it. Never had any trouble. Never empty it.


I also let it warm up a little first.

Where in the world do you come up with that "hard on the pump and seals"?

I've been burning unleaded in a dual fuel lantern since the first one they sold. Burn it ice fishing most of the winter for both heat and light. Burn it all year for the same during electrical outages. Burn it for tracking during deer season. Burn it just for fun a lot of evenings to feed the fish under my bridge.

Only disadvantage to unleaded gasoline is it doesn't produce as much light as the same lantern with Coleman fuel or white gas. Can drive to town and buy any one of the three I want with in a block of each other.

Been burning regular unleaded in both my Coleman dual fuel lanterns for years and years. Mantle replacement is the only thing I've ever had to do.

In my hunting camp I used white gas. But with family camping with a tent trailer then a travel trailer I used propane. I had bottles on the front anyway. I have rebuilt a couple of white gas lanterns, it's much more difficult task than the stoves. Generators can't just be cleaned like the stove generators, they more less have to be replaced. In Canada dual fuel stoves and lanterns are rare, so I have never used one.. The white gas stoves and lanterns are much more portable than propane. White gas stoves burn hotter than newer propane ones, too. The original Colman propane stoves used a high 15psi and as such weren't any different than the white gas ones. What I object to is the high cost of Colman Camping Fuel. It seems to double in price every year.

I think the future is LEDs.

Light is light, but LEDs have no soul. Just my .02.

rblum:

Don't waste your money on another liquid fuel lantern.

I stopped using liquid fuel lanterns about 25 years ago, when I switched to propane. Then, about 5 years ago, I switched to LED lanterns.

Modern LED lanterns are much more convenient, give off just as much light, are cheaper to buy and cheaper to operate, have no maintenance and have no safety problems.

I still have several good liquid fuel lanterns and several good propane lanterns. Now they just gather dust in the shed.

Wanna sell some propane lanterns? Shoot me a PM.

I have 2 white gas lanterns. Only get them out every couple years for test runs then clean them and store again. Don't know why I keep them.

Only used Coleman or other lantern/stove fuel in them, never owned a dual fuel model.

I have 3 Streamlite Siege D cell LED lanterns. Just like everything else with a battery you have to watch out for leaking batteries, most of the time I keep the batteries in a zip bag with the lanterns. If I'm not home my wife has no trouble with the LED lights, I don't see her doing well with the gas lanterns.

I found that the LED lanterns work great for work light under the house and in the attic dark spots.

When I had a well and pump house I kept a kerosene lamp to keep the plumbing/pump from freezing during winter power outages.

Still have a homemade lantern hanger for surf fishing at night. Every time I see that rusted metal rod I get good memories surf fishing with my dad same with one of the old lanterns.

They don't heat a tent worth a schitt in cold weather either like a liquid or compressed gas fuel lantern can.

How well does the Coleman white fuel hold up over time?
I've had a gallon for 20+ years for my stove.
Actually thought about trying to fire the stove up Saturday just to see if everything was good.....or bad.

I got one container thats at least 15 years old, that's the one I used to test the old lanterns with last year, worked fine.

Thanks, going to pull stove out and see if it is still good.
Bought some new parts[regulator, check valve etc] just in case.